In a World Without Fantastic Four Comics, DC Basically Decided to Make Their Own

For the past few years, the Fantastic Four have been absent — both in Marvel’s comics universe and in reality. Although Marvel seems to be uninterested in filling this hole in the comics landscape, it appears DC is more than willing to give it a go: say hello to The Terrifics, DC’s own quirky quartet.

Image: DC Comics. Art by Evan Shaner

The series, created by Jeff Lemire and Ivan Reis, will be part of DC’s new Dark Matter imprint, which is spearheading a whole bunch of series coming out of the Dark Nights event that’s about to get underway. The roster is definitely unique enough to be Fantastic Four-esque, and even brings back some DC heroes who’ve been mostly absent the comics over the course of the New 52 and DC Rebirth — Plastic Man, Phantom Girl, Metamorpho, and then titular team leader himself, Mr. Terrific.

It’s cool to see the return of some of DC’s weirder heroes but it’s especially neat to see a team like this filling the science-y, weird sci-fi niche that hasn’t really been covered by Marvel or DC in the wake of the Fantastic Four’s vanishing act. The Terrifics is a bit on the nose, sure — Plastic Man’s got Reed’s stretch abilities, Phantom Girl can go intangible and phase through objects like Sue, Metamorpho has the same sort of appearance issues that have plagued Ben Grimm over the years — but hey. If Marvel’s not gonna give us a Fantastic Four book anytime soon, someone might as well.